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Image: Civil War Unknowns Monument - Arlington National Cemetery - c 1900

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Description: Looking northeast at the western and southern facades of the Civil War Unknowns Monument, located on the grounds of Arlington House (the Robert E. Lee National Memorial) at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. The image shows the monument circa 1900, after several changes were made to it. The Rodman guns were formerly mounted on caissons and pointed outward from each corner; now they are muzzle-down in the earth. The former simple lid has been removed, and a new lid modeled on the Ark of the Covenant (as described in the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible) has been added. The pyramid of artillery shot, which formerly sat on top of the lid, has been moved to the ground. Arlington House can be seen to the left, along with the South Slave Quarters. The dome-like structure in the flower garden behind the Civil War Unknowns Monument is the "Temple of Fame". This structure was erected in 1884 in the flower garden where an arbor used to be. Stone columns, pediments, and entablatures were saved from the U.S. Patent Office (which had suffered a serious fire several years earlier and was being demolished), and were used to construct the Temple of Fame. The Temple was a round, Greek Revival, temple-like structure with Doric columns supporting a central dome. Inscribed on the pediment supporting the dome were the names of great Americans such as George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and David Farragut. A year after it was built, the last names of Union Civil War generals like those of George Henry Thomas, George Meade, James B. McPherson, John Sedgwick, John F. Reynolds, Andrew A. Humphreys, James A. Garfield, and Joseph K. Mansfield were carved into its columns. Since there wasn't enough marble to rebuild the dome, a tin dome (molded and painted to look like marble) was installed instead.
Title: Civil War Unknowns Monument - Arlington National Cemetery - c 1900
Credit: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994000570/PP/
Author: Detroit Publishing Co.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No

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